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Pyramid
Pyramid, based loosely off Password, is a game show where you have to get your partner to say a word by describing it. Gameplay Main Game The game is played with two teams of two players (consisting of one celebrity & one contestant) in a game of word communication. Each game starts with the introduction of six categories arranged in a pyramid. In the main game, a category's position on the pyramid was not an indicator of its difficulty. The categories were usually puns hinting to the content within that subject (i.e. "I'd Like to Buy a Vowel" would contain things associated with Wheel of Fortune). Each team in turn chose a category, and then a subject under that category was given. Each subject has seven words/phrases/names. The team had 30 seconds to guess the seven answers that fit into the category. One player described each item while the other player tried to guess what the words are. Each correct word was worth one point. When a word was passed, it cannot be returned to, but if the guesser can guess the word already passed, the team still scored; but with no sound effect used, to as to avoid any distractions (this was not possible in Donny Osmond's GSN's, and Michael Strahan's versions, as un-guessed words had to be returned to in order to count); . If at any time the clue giver gave away any part of the answer or conveyed the essence of the answer, a cuckoo sounded (burble in the Donny Osmond version) and the word was thrown out. Each team had three turns with the celebrities giving first in round one, the contestants giving in round two, and in round three they decided among themselves on who's giving and who's receiving. In the event that a celebrity was paired with a visually-impaired contestant, the celebrities gave clues in all rounds. The team with the highest score after three rounds won the game. In the 1970s, 1980s and 2016 versions, in the rare event that contestants were mathematically unable to at least tie their opponent before the opponent has had his/her last turn (or even rarer, before that point), the game ends and the remaining categories are left unplayed, unless one of them concealed a bonus. PYR 14.PNG|The Category Board from The $10,000 Pyramid. Looks like a traffic cone, doesn't it? PYR 01.PNG|Sandy Duncan helping her contestant partner in the main game from 1973. Categories3.jpg|The Category Board from The $25,000 Pyramid. Pyramid 25 Play.JPG|Lois Nettleton giving her partner clues. PYR 15.png|The blue-and-red board from 1979. We have changed from pull cards to trilons ala the Winner's Circle. PYR 02.PNG|A contestant giving clues to David Letterman from the late 70s. $50 Pyramid Cats.JPG|The Category Board from The $50,000 Pyramid Pyramid 50 Play.JPG|Didi Conn giving clues to her partner. Note that the clock counted up. PYR 16.png|The more well-known Category Board from the CBS version. PYR 03.PNG|Jamie Farr and a contestant playing the main game from 1985. PYR 17.png|The Category Board with the rather unnecessary monitors from the John Davidson version. Jason.jpg|Jason Alexander giving clues to a contestant from 1991. Note the triangle. The 100k Pyramid Monitors.PNG|The Category Board with the improved monitors from the John Davidson version. 100k.PNG|Beth Maitland giving clues to her partner. PYR 13.PNG|The Category Board from the Donny Osmond series. Got to love the bottom-right one. PYR 04.PNG|A contestant giving clues to Dick Clark himself from 2002. Notice the lack of scoreboard. Pyramid02-score.jpg|Let's see the score (season 1) KyleClues.JPG|Kyle Lowder giving clues to a contestant in 2003. The scoreboards are now in place. The Pyramid_Pilot_Monitors.jpg Vlcsnap-2016-6-8.jpg vlcsnap-2016-06-28-22h01m12s632.jpg|Here's the Category Board from The Pyramid. It is all one giant screen and it has 3D CGI trilons. vlcsnap-2016-06-28-22h02m46s136.jpg|Chandra Wilson giving clues to her partner. vlcsnap-2016-06-26-23h07m25s338.jpg|Here's the Category Board from The $100,000 Pyramid (2016). Three monitors are placed together in each box forming a new kind of trilon. Unlike previous versions however, there's no base underneath. vlcsnap-2016-06-30-13h55m12s117.png|Close-up vlcsnap-2016-06-26-23h08m06s345.jpg|Sherri Shepard giving clues to her partner. Unlike all previous versions, the words aren't superimposed on the screen, instead appearing on monitors on each desk. Vlcsnap_2016-07-13_Winner.jpg Alterations *'$10,000 Pyramid' - In the beginning on CBS there were eight words, but when the show moved to ABC it was reduced to the traditional seven. *'$20,000 Pyramid' - Any team who achieved a perfect score of 21 points won a $1,000 bonus (a bonus prize in the final season). *'$25,000 Pyramid' - During the 1977-78 season of the Cullen shows, any team who achieved a perfect score of 21 points won a $2,100 bonus. *'$50,000 Pyramid' - The timer counted up from 0 to 30 in the front game. *'$100,000 Pyramid' - During the John Davidson run, there was a triangle next to certain words. That signified that it was the last word in the list of seven. *'Pyramid' - When Donny Osmond hosted the show, the number of words was lowered to six, and the time was reduced to 20 seconds. A burble signified that the giver gave an unacceptable clue. As noted above, words could be passed, but if a receiver guessed a passed word, that word had to be returned to and guessed again to count. *'The Pyramid' - Every time a player gets 7/7, he/she wins $500 & $5,000 is added to the Winner's Circle bank. Special Bonuses At some point in the game, a team would uncover a special card behind one category prompting a bonus situation. To win the bonus, the team had to get all the answers right. In situations where a team can win the game without needing all the answers or has won the game automatically, if the last category concealed a bonus, the team was allowed to play all the way out in order to win the bonus. The $50,000 Pyramid & GSN's The Pyramid have no such bonuses. *'Big 7' - This was the show's mainstay for the entire 70s run. It premiered in December 1974 (7 months after the show moved to ABC), and during the second season of the Cullen run. The team that exposed the Big 7 had 30 seconds to get all seven and win $500 (originally a trip). During the Cullen run it had two bonus prizes: the first was $1,000 during the second season, and the second was a new Chevrolet Chevette during the final season. On the $20,000 Pyramid, if a team had 14 points, and the final category was the "Big 7", getting all seven answers added the "Big 7" bonus to the "Perfect 21" bonus, making it worth $1,500, or $500 and a bonus prize during the final season. PYR 05.PNG|Orange & Black Big 7 Vlcsnap-2012-04-06-00h09m04s176.png|Blue & Red Big 7 *'Big Money Card' - This was only shown in the Cullen run from 1976-1978. A random cash amount between $1,000 and $5,000 ($1,000-$4,000 during the 1977-1978 season) was hidden behind a category. Whatever the amount exposed, that's the amount the contestant was playing for by getting all seven. During the 1977-1978 season, the only nighttime season to have the "Perfect 21" (for $2,100), should the team have a score of 14 points, prior to getting the "Big Money Card", getting all seven won both bonuses, worth between $3,100-$6,100. PYR 06.png|$1,500 Big Money Card Vlcsnap-2012-04-06-00h14m18s249.png|$2,000 Big Money Card $2,500.png|$2,500 Big Money Card 3000big7.jpg|$3,000 Big Money Card vlcsnap-2013-04-11-13h24m47s172.png|$3,500 Big Money Card vlcsnap-2012-05-30-22h43m31s45.png|$4,000 Big Money Card *'7-11' - This was the show's mainstay for the entire 80s run. It premiered in April 1983 on CBS and was always played in the first game. The team that exposed the 7-11 had 30 seconds to get all seven and win a cash bonus of $1,100. When it first premiered, the contestant had a choice between going for the $1,100 or play it safe and play for $50 a correct answer (for a max total of $350); this rule lasted until 1/18/85. It existed on the John Davidson version as well, but on April 12, it was scrapped in favor of Gamble for a Grand. 7-11 Close-Up.jpg|A close-up shot of the 7-11 PYR 08.png|The 7-11 is last but highly not least. It came out on top. Vlcsnap-2012-04-06-00h28m37s129.png|But here, on John’s first day as host, the 7-11 came up right away! *'Mystery 7' - Like the 7-11, this was the show's mainstay for the entire 80s run. It was always played in the second game. The team that found the Mystery 7 had a chance to win a special prize. It's called the Mystery 7 because the category was not told until after it was done. The team had the usual 30 seconds to get all seven words. In its early existence, the Mystery 7 was in plain sight as the last category on the main game Pyramid board. It was mostly chosen first by the contestant who lost the first game, which mostly led to having the Mystery 7 be hidden away. It existed on the John Davidson version as well, except that with Double Trouble involved, this can be played in either game. The Gamble for a Trip replaced the Mystery 7 on the Tuesday and Thursday shows. The Mystery 7 continued to be used on the Monday, Wednesday, and Friday shows in the meantime. The Mystery 7 returned in the current version, played in the second game and always for a trip. Early_Mystery_7.jpg|A close-up of the old look of the Mystery 7. It changed from blue to white after the first week. Starting on November 7, 1983, it was given its own unique logo, in the same font as the 7-11 bonus card. PYR 07.png|Starting on April 23, 1984, it was changed to being a "behind-the-category" bonus (like the 7-11). Here, it's exposed behind the next to last category chosen. vlcsnap-2012-04-06-00h38m02s155.png|Here's the Mystery 7 during John Davidson's era, but still on trilons. PYR 10.png|Same scenario in this picture as do the previous one. Note the monitors. vlcsnap-2016-06-26-23h13m26s315.jpg|In 2016, after 25 years, the Mystery 7 is back! *'Double Trouble' - This was only played in the Davidson version and was played in either game. It premiered on January 8. This category had its seven answers be two words long. The team had 45 seconds instead of 30 to get all seven two word answers. Getting all seven answers won $500. There were two Double Trouble categories in the game whenever it appeared; each team only gets one giving both teams a chance at $500. Vlcsnap-2012-04-06-00h31m03s58.png|Double Trouble on trilons PYR 11.png|Double Trouble on monitors *'Gamble for a Grand/Trip' - This was the Davidson version's replacement for the 7-11 and the Mystery 7 (on the Tuesday & Thursday shows only). This was where the team that found it can decide to give up five seconds of time (making the time 25 seconds) for a chance to win $1,000 or a trip. Vlcsnap-2012-06-15-16h15m25s251.png|Gamble For a Grand vlcsnap-2012-04-06-00h36m10s54.png|Gamble on trilons. PYR 09.png|Gamble on monitors. *'Super Six' - This was only shown on the Donny Osmond version since all categories required six words in 20 seconds and it was always played in both games. The team that exposed the Super Six had 20 seconds to get all six and win a prize. In the second season, a home viewer contest was in play; viewers registered at the Pyramid website, and if the prize was won, a home viewer would win it as well. PYR 12.png|Super Six from season 1, which showed a close up camera shot. Note that in season 2, it was changed to a graphic that flipped and took up the entire screen (a la the Daily Double on Jeopardy!). Player of the Week In the $50,000 Pyramid and for three weeks in 1983 on The New $25,000 Pyramid the player who had the fastest time of the week won a trip (in the $50,000 Pyramid it was a European getaway; in 1983 it was a trip to Greece). Tie-Breakers If the game ended in a tie, the game shifted into a tie-breaker situation. The team that caused the tie had a choice between two letters leaving the other for the other team. Both teams had 30 seconds to get as many of the seven items beginning with their letter(s) as they can. The team that got the most out of seven won the game. 70s & 2002 Pyramids The teams continued building on their scores using the tie-breaker categories. This caused an achievement of very rare high scores. Extra ties kept the game going, and as soon as the tie was broken, the game was over. In the 2002 Pyramid, the team that scored six points in the fastest time won the game. On the Cullen run, if the tiebreakers precluded playing a second Winner's Circle, the one who won the tiebreaker earned $2,500. By the end, the later rules had been established. 80s & 90s Pyramids/2016 Revival The teams' scores were erased and each team played their 30 second round of seven answers each. The team that got the most out of seven won the game. If both teams got the same amount of answers, but they failed to give seven, the tiebreaker was replayed. If both teams got seven, the team with the fastest time was declared the winner. If the first team got seven, the time remaining on the clock was subtracted from 30 to give the time that the other team needed to get seven. If the game ended in a 21-21 tie, the team that broke the tie won $5,000 (originally a car) to the contestant. The John Davidson version and the 2016 revival didn't have that rule. Ties in the 2016 revival are broken by determining which team got the same score in the fastest time. The team who gets the lowest score in the fastest time advances to the Winner's Circle. If both teams achieve the same score in the same amount of time, the tiebreaker round is played with the 80s & 90s rules. The Pyramid There are more than seven words in each category. High score wins. Earlier tapings used the 80s & 90s rules. The winning team went over to the Winner's Circle for a grand cash prize. Starting with the move to ABC in 1974, the contestant on the winning team even had a choice as to who would give and who would receive. Winner's Circle The giver of the winning team faced a larger pyramid board of six subjects with the guesser having his/her back to the board. The winning team had 60 seconds to climb up to the top of the pyramid by getting all six. On each subject, the giver gave a list of items that fit the subject while the guesser tried to guess what they all have in common. As soon as the guesser gets the right subject or passed, they moved on to the next subject to the right. Upon a pass, the team can come back to it if there's time leftover though the guesser can still get the subject without going back to it (not possible in the Donny Osmond version). If at any time the giver gave an illegal clue (giving away part of the answer, conveying the essence of the answer, descriptions of the category, a synonym or gives a clue that is not related to the subject) a buzzer would sound (the same burble from the main game in Donny Osmond's version), the subject was re-concealed and the team forfeited the chance at the big money. Starting in the ABC version, the giver was discouraged from using his/her hands which is why they were strapped into the chair, and starting in the 2nd CBS version prepositional phrases were also outlawed. Even though the big money was forfeited, the team can still go for the other subjects, because when time ran out, the contestant still won money attached to the subjects guessed; of course, getting all six in 60 seconds without illegal clues won the grand cash prize. NOTES: *The cue from the "Winner's Circle" bonus round was also used for the "Speed Round" in the 1983-1989 version of Sale of the Century hosted by Jim Perry. *A cue that sounded similar to the "Winner's Circle" bonus round (and the "Speed Round" from Sale of the Century) was used for the unsold pilot called Body Talk (hosted by Vicki Lawrence) in 1990. Payoffs Consolation Money Here are the amounts for each subject according to the versions: PYR 19.PNG|The bonus round in progress from 1973. Notice that the giver (Sandy Duncan in this pic) is using her hands. imagesCA5OASOA.jpg|William Shatner is messing up here. PYR 20.PNG|By 1974, the giver must keep his or her hands in the straps while giving clues. PYR 21.PNG|The bonus round in progress from the 1980s. The set would now turn red during gameplay. sunlamp.jpg PYR 22.PNG|The bonus round in progress from 2002, using different camera angles and straight cuts. Things_on_a_Golf_Course.jpg vlcsnap-2016-06-28-22h03m21s749.jpg|The bonus round from 2012, returning to the classic style. vlcsnap-2016-06-28-22h09m53s725.jpg|The bonus round in 2016. Grand Cash Prizes Here are the grand cash prizes for going up to the top of the Pyramid in the series: *'The $10,000 Pyramid' - All trips to the Winner's circle were worth $10,000. *'The $20,000 Pyramid' - The first trip was worth $10,000, the second was worth $15,000, and the third and all future trips were worth $20,000. Winning here at any point augmented the player's prior winnings to the grand prize. *'The (New) $25,000 Pyramid' - The first trip was worth $10,000, and the second trip was worth a total of $25,000 ($10,000 win in the first WC means the second is worth $15,000). During the Cullen version, if a player won a bonus, then won both bonus rounds, they would be absorbed into the $25,000 (IOW, if someone won a car, the value of the car would be removed from the cash winnings). *'The $50,000 Pyramid' - The first trip was worth $5,000, and the second trip was worth a total of $10,000. In the finals of tournament games, all trips were worth $50,000. *'The $100,000 Pyramid' - Same as the (New) $25,000 Pyramid except in tournament games where all trips were worth $100,000. *'Pyramid' - The first trip was worth $10,000, and should they win the first bonus round, the second was worth $15,000 for a total of $25,000. *'The Pyramid' - Each 7/7 adds $5,000 to the WC prize, which starts at $10,000, and could reach as much as $25,000. Thus, the maximum total for winning both games is $50,000. *'The $100,000 Pyramid (2016)' - The first trip will be worth $50,000, and the second trip will be worth $100,000. Unlike previous versions, these amounts are cumulative, meaning if a player wins both WC's, they win a total of $150,000. PYR 23.PNG|$10,000 win from 1973. PYR 24.PNG|Another $10,000 win from 1973, complete with cheesy graphic. Billy Raises His Hands.jpg|Billy Crystal’s record: 26 seconds! PYR 25.PNG|$10K win from 1978. PYR 26.PNG|A $50K Pyramid win from 1981. PYR 27.PNG|A good ol' $25K win from 1982. PYR 28.PNG|And here's something even better, a $100K win from 1987. 100KWin.jpg|Everybody loves it when the $100,000 is won! vlcsnap-2012-08-31-06h30m02s35.png|John Davidson had his share of winners as well, whether it was $10,000... vlcsnap-2012-08-31-06h30m45s223.png|...$25,000... vlcsnap-2012-08-31-06h28m56s147.png|...or $100,000. PYR 29.PNG|A $10K win from 2002. vlcsnap-2012-08-31-06h33m06s95.png|And a $25K win as well. BTW, this was done in 27 seconds. $15,000_Win.jpg vlcsnap-2016-06-28-22h04m24s535.jpg|And a nice payoff! (Note: He got 7/7 twice in the front game, thus earning a chance at $20,000.) vlcsnap-2016-06-26-23h16m58s280.jpg|The 2016 version kicked off right, with not one... vlcsnap-2016-06-26-23h17m43s464.jpg|...but TWO Winners' Circle wins! Vlcsnap-2016-07-13.jpg|And here we have the first $100,000 win! Game/Championship Formats In the 70s daytime version, contestants who didn't make it to the top returned to play the next game. If they do make it to the top and win the grand cash prize, they retire from the show. Also games straddled at that time, so whenever there's no time for the second Winner's Circle on that day's show, the second Winner's Circle would be played at the top of the next show. On Friday shows, if the second game ended in a tie but there was no time for one more Winner's Circle round, the celebrities of the week would team up to play the Winner's Circle themselves. Any money won by the celebrities was split between the contestants, and if they win, their contestant partners split $5,000 between them. In all versions thereafter, each episode was made self-contained for it had the contestants play two games every show. During the CBS version & $100,000 versions, any money won from the Winner's Circle was used as score money not counting bonuses. The player with the most money or won both games returned to play the next show. If the show ended in a tie both contestants returned to play the next show (Except on $100,000 Pyramid during the tournament when a coin toss determines who comes back). Contestants retired after five wins while in the CBS version they retired after winning the $25,000 since it was the network's winnings limit; when the limit was raised to $50,000 in '84 and $75,000 in '86, contestants were required to stay a little while longer until they get enough $25,000 wins to retire or win the usual five games. Tournaments On The $50,000 Pyramid, the player with the fastest time in the front game during that week was called The Player Of The Week, won two round-trip tickets to Europe and qualified for the $50,000 tournament. This explained why the clock counted up (00 to 30) instead of down (30 to 00). If there was a tie (both players got 7 in less time than the current POTW during a given show), a standard tiebreaker was played. There were two tournaments. The first was held starting on March 23, 1981 and the other beginning on May 25, 1981. The quarterfinals were played on Monday and Tuesday. The winner of each game would advance to the semifinals after playing the Pyramid for $5,000. On Wednesday and Thursday, each match would have two semifinalists playing two games against each other with players winning one game playing for $5,000, and players winning both games in the same show playing for a total of $10,000. Whoever won the most money would compete in the finals. The losing players from the semifinals competed in a 'wild card' match. Starting the following Monday, two finalists played one game and the winner played the Winner's Circle for $50,000. If the grand prize was not won, that player played the next game against the finalist who sat out the previous game. When playing for $50,000, an illegal clue ended the round, and there was no money awarded for each individual category. On both versions of The $100,000 Pyramid, the three players who won the Winner's Circle in the shortest time during a given period of shows (usually 13 weeks) returned on later episodes to compete in a tournament. The players alternated in a round-robin, with two players competing each day and the third player replacing the loser of that episode in the next one, if neither player won the Winner's Circle that day (in the event of a tie, a coin toss was used to determine who returned on the next show). The first player to win the Winner's Circle won $100,000 and ended the tournament. If a $100,000 win happened in the first game of the show, the two remaining players played the second game for a possible $10,000. No bonus cards were in play during a tournament, although the $5,000 bonus for a 21-21 tie remained intact on the 1980s version. On the Osmond version, the rules were changed drastically to being played between either four or six players who won $25,000 in their initial appearance (which, due to the above requirements and a lack of returning champions, made qualification difficult), with two tournaments played each season. During a six-player tournament, each contestant's first attempt at the Winner's Circle was worth $25,000. If $25,000 was won in the first half and the same player returned to the Winner's Circle, that contestant played for an additional $75,000 and the tournament title. If the tournament ended with no players able to win both Winner's Circles in one show, either the contestant who won $25,000 in the fastest time or the player who won the most money would have his or her tournament winnings augmented to $100,000. In a four-player tournament, contestants competed in single elimination, with the first two semifinalists competing on day one and the other two semifinalists on day two. Each attempt at the Winner's Circle was worth $25,000. The top two winners then returned to compete in the finals, where each Winner's Circle victory that day was worth an additional $50,000. A tournament sweep would be worth $150,000. In addition, unlike the previous tournament format, the Super 6 was still in play, this time offering more expensive prizes. Unsold Pilots November 19, 1996 Hosted by Mark L. Walberg. Instead of two celebrities, six "celebrities" were featured: *Ted Henning: He played Guard #2 on an episode of Babylon 5. *J. Karen Thomas: She played Jamie's mom in Leprechaun: Back 2 Tha Hood along with about 30 other roles. *Kevin Anthony Cole: Played Simmons in the direct-to-video Asylum. *Heather Marie (Mardsen): Was a semi-regular on The Army Show. *Dar Rollins: Only credit is One Sung Hero. Now an agent, he's married to Sabrina, The Teenage Witch semi-regular Lindsay Sloane. *Sherl Kay: Never appeared in anything. Not even in Google. Must have been a seat filler when somebody didn't show up. Apparently is now a motivational speaker. Round 1: Standard Pyramid, with each celebrity being assigned a category. Round 2: A contestant would have 60 seconds to give classic "things in a list" clues to the "celebrities" while they tried to guess the category one at a time. If you got all six, you just started up again at the bottom. You got 5 points and $100 per correct category. Round 3: Each contestant selected one "celebrity", and they alternated giver-receiver roles for 60 seconds trying to do as many words as possible in 60 seconds. Ten points per word in this round. Final Pyramid: Same as the Winner's Circle, but there was no appreciable difference in difficulty from one box to the next, and each one was a flat $200. If you got all six, it was worth $25,000. November 16, 1997 Hosted by Chuck Woolery. A return to classic Pyramid, but still featuring six celebrities: *Leila Kenzle *Dan Cortese *Kathy Kinney *Bronson Pinchot *Alfonso Ribeiro *Kathy Najimy As before, each celebrity represented a category. Other then that, classic Pyramid rules applied. Final Pyramid remained, but regardless of player, first trip was for $10,000, second $25,000. 1999 This was called "Pyramid Rocks", taped for VH1, hosted by Bil Dwyer. A return to using two celebrities, in this case, Ellen Cleghorne & Riki Rachtman. All clues pertained to music, including lyrics (which, to avoid royalties, couldn't be sung). A perfect 21 earned a bonus prize, and the Winner's Circle returned, worth $5,000. December 6, 2000 Hosted by Donny Osmond. Two versions were filmed. The $100,000 Pyramid Taped for Syndication. In this version, getting 7/7 rewards $500. In the Winner's Circle, the first trip is worth $10,000; each trip thereafter is worth $5,000 more, up to $30,000 for the 5th. Here are the amounts for each subject: Champs were to remain until winning $100,000. The $1,000,000 Pyramid Taped for NBC. In the front game, each point earned was worth $1,000. The first Winner's Circle is worth $125,000. Each subsequent one doubles the money, up to $1,000,000 for the fourth. However, once a Winner's Circle is won, the player has the option to leave the show, or return for the next game. If they play on, and lose the front game, or win the front game but lose the WC, their endgame winnings are forfeited; main game winnings and WC consolations are safe. Here are the amounts for each subject: June 2009 Taped for CBS. Hosted by Tim Vincent & Dean Cain. A 7-11 was offered in the first game of one of the pilots, now offering $11,000 with a $500/answer option. In the Winner's Circle, the first trip was for $25,000, and the second was for a total of $75,000. Here are the amounts for each subject: The top four money winners and top four WC times were to be entered in a "League of Champions" for $1,000,000. June 23, 2010 Taped for TBS, hosted by Andy Richter. This time, the show is an hour long: two games for $10,000, then the winners play for a shot at a total of $25,000. The third and fourth categories award bonuses for 7/7. Here are the amounts in the WC: In addition, there is an option called "Double Down", which allows a team to play one category for Double Points. While never confirmed, it could be assumed that there was supposed to be a tournament format for the $500,000. Rating TV-G for the 1973-1991 versions and the 2012 version; TV-PG for the 2002-2004 version TV-14 for the 2016 version Music 1973-1981, 2009 (Dean Cain pilot) - "Tuning Up" by Ken Aldin 1982-1992, 2009 (Tim Vincent pilot) - by Bob Cobert 2002 by Barry Baylock & John Coffing Inventor Bob Stewart Trivia *In the 1973 pilot, the Winner's Circle round required 10 subjects (with the four on the bottom worth $25) instead of six to be guessed, but producer Bob Stewart realized how extremely difficult it would be to achieve, so a large piece of plywood was added to the giant pyramid to cover up the four on the bottom. Future versions had no covering seeing that they all have six boxes on their pyramids. *Early in the show's run, in the Winners Circle, clue givers were allowed to use their hands, and could give prepositional phrases (e.g., "the shirt off your back") as clues. (Direct synonyms and saying all or part of the clue were never allowed.) By 1974, clue-giving rules became increasingly strict and more precision was needed to accomplish a win. *The fastest celebrity to make it to the top of the pyramid was Billy Crystal at 26 seconds. *The theme song "Tuning Up" for the early versions of Pyramid was used on a 1995 Saturday Night Live game show parody sketch entitled "You Think You're Better Than Me?" *The highest total given away in the history of Pyramid was $150,800. *Two Pyramid pilots were made for syndication in 1996 and 1997. Mark L. Walberg hosted the 1996 version while Chuck Woolery hosted the 1997 version. The only significant difference is that instead of two celebrities both versions had six celebrities. Neither of these versions were ever picked up for syndication. *In 1999, due to the success of Rock & Roll Jeopardy! with Jeff Probst, VH1 wanted to revive another classic game show with a musical twist under the title Pyramid Rocks. The celebrities for the pilot were former MTV VJ Riki Rachtman and former SNL cast member Ellen Cleghorne while the host for the pilot was Bil Dwyer. VH1 never picked up the series. *Prior to the 2002-2004 syndicated version of Pyramid, Donny Osmond hosted two Pyramid pilots in 2000: one for syndication as The $100,000 Pyramid and the other for NBC as The $1,000,000 Pyramid; both pilots were never picked up. *Former host Donny Osmond not only hosted Pyramid in the states, but he also hosted an equally short-lived British version called Donny's Pyramid Game for Challenge TV (UK's GSN) in 2007. In addition, its gameplay was very similar to that of the original 70s/80s American counterpart. *A newer version of The $1,000,000 Pyramid was originally scheduled for CBS's Fall 2009 premiere, replacing the cancelled soap opera Guiding Light, but was bumped off in favor of the new Let's Make a Deal. It has been reconsidered for the CBS 2010 Fall premiere replacing the next soap to be cancelled As the World Turns, only to get bumped off once more, this time by a new CBS daytime talk show called The Talk, hosted by Julie Chen, Sara Gilbert, Leah Remini, Holly Robinson Peete, and Sharon Osbourne. A third pilot, now called The $500,000 Pyramid was filmed for TBS and was not picked up. Later, a fourth pilot was made and using the 80s syndicated top amount this time for GSN; GSN passed up a Pyramid pilot prior to this. Finally, after three previous unsuccessful tries (two on the same network), Pyramid returned to television. The new show premiered on September 3, 2012; however, it lasted only one season, though it continues to air on GSN in reruns. *The correct answer bell, buzzer, cuckoo, and the Winner's Circle clock sound from the 80s versions were recycled into the GSN version. There was even a revamped version of the 80s version’s theme song. *ABC has recently announced plans for a new primetime version of The $100,000 Pyramid with Michael Strahan as the new host. It set sail on June 26, 2016; and also carried over the classic sound effects, as well as the revamped 80s theme music. However, an illegal Winner's Circle was a double buzz instead of a long buzz, just like in John Davidson's version. Popular culture *On an episode of Muppet Babies, baby Kermit and baby Miss Piggy appear on a parody of this game show called The 25,000 Dollhouse Pyramid. As the announcer is introduced to the game and its host (which used reused footage of an episode of The $25,000 Pyramid, but with the dollar sign censored out in its references), baby Miss Piggy says "We must be on American Bandstand!". *On a MADtv ''sketch, a spoof was titled the ''Ebonic Pyramid, hosted by LL Cool J and with Gangsters playing. $25,000 was the top prize in the Winner's Circle. *On an episode of The Simpsons (after the initial debut of the Donny Osmond version), two characters appear in the Winner's Circle. *Along with the success of the DirecTV To Tell The Truth commercials, Comcast has Pyramid spoof commercials. Spin-Offs & Similar Shows Junior Pyramid - Kids' version aired in 1979 Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak - Similar show aired in 1986 Taboo - Similar show aired 2002-2003 International Versions Countries that have previously aired their versions of Pyramid include: *Australia *Canada (French-language only) *Chile *Egypt *Estonia *France *Germany *Indonesia *Israel *Italy *Poland *Russia *Singapore *Thailand *Turkey *United Kingdom *Venezuela *Vietnam Merchandise Additional Pages Pyramid/Gallery Pyramid/Video Gallery Pyramid/Quotes & Catchphrases List of Pyramid Celebrities Links [http://abc.go.com/shows/the-100000-pyramid Official Website of The $100,000 Pyramid (2016 Version)] Xanfan's Pyramid Page Xanfan's older Pyramid Page Information on the 70s Pyramid The $10,000 Pyramid fan page (via Internet Archive) Josh Rebich's Pyramid Rulesheets A blog about The $25,000 Pyramid board game The $1,000,000 Pyramid Review (2000) via Internet Archives Category:Word Games Category:Puzzle Category:Celebrity Category:Syndicated shows Category:CBS shows Category:ABC shows Category:Game Show Network shows Category:Network shows Category:Network daytime shows Category:Daytime shows Category:Revivals Category:Bob Stewart-Sande Stewart Productions Category:20th Century Fox Television Category:Sony Pictures Television Category:CBS Television Studios Category:NBC Universal Television Category:Embassy Row Category:Long-Running Category:1973 premieres Category:1974 premieres Category:1974 endings Category:1976 premieres Category:1976 endings Category:1979 endings Category:1980 endings Category:1981 premieres Category:1981 endings Category:1982 premieres Category:1985 premieres Category:1987 endings Category:1988 premieres Category:1988 endings Category:1991 premieres Category:1991 endings Category:2002 premieres Category:2004 endings Category:2012 premieres Category:2012 endings Category:2016 premieres